PREPARING TO MEET THE NEEDS OF OLDER ADULTS: WORKFORCE, TRAINING, AND EDUCATION ISSUES

Abstract Due to projected growth in the older adult population in the United States, those working in healthcare and education will encounter increasing numbers of older adults. This population shift presents challenges and opportunities for individuals working in these settings to be ready to meet the needs of older adults. In this symposium, we highlight research on several issues critical to preparing the workforce in healthcare and education for older adults’ specific needs. Poon’s paper addresses geriatric behavioral health workforce needs identified by a survey of licensed behavioral health providers. Several barriers to providing care to older adults are identified by these providers. Rodriguez et al. investigated the clinical practice experiences and challenges from ten years’ worth of alumni of the VA Geriatric Scholars program. This training program provides a model for improving clinical practice with older adults. Hollis-Sawyer examines older students’ first experiences taking a course in an online teaching setting and provides specific suggestions to maximize their learning environment. Patterson et al. present an extensive scoping review of end-of-life training for medical students that identified several themes that can direct efforts to improve end-of-life care for older adults. Finally, Caskie et al. address health biases and age biases in doctoral psychology trainees’ anticipated clinical work with depressed older adult clients of varying health statuses and provide guidance to psychology programs for improving training. This symposium aims to provide those working in healthcare and educational settings with ways to address workforce preparedness to meet the needs of older adults.

In March of 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.Almost immediately, 95% of the US population was under stay-at-home orders, resulting in widespread uncertainty about the future, low community engagement, and social isolation.These effects may have been detrimental to maintaining a sense of purpose in life across this period, which has been linked to several health and wellness factors, including cognitive ability.Although previous work has indicated that higher cognitive ability predicts a stronger sense of purpose in life, the relationship between cognitive ability and changes in purpose across this universal, chronic stressor is unknown.The present study, therefore, examined the effects of cognitive ability, age, and gender on trajectories of purpose in life across the COVID-19 pandemic.Participants included 206 individuals (Age Range=45-88, M=69.04,SD=9.29) who participated in a cognitive assessment before the pandemic, as well as the multi-wave Notre Dame Study of Health & Well-being-COVID Study (NDHWB-CS) from September 2020-February 2022.Two-level, multilevel modeling tested the effects of total, fluid, and crystalized cognitive abilities, as well as age and gender, on trajectories of purpose in life.Results indicated that greater total and fluid cognitive abilities were associated with higher initial levels of purpose in life.Furthermore, although crystalized, fluid, and total cognitive abilities were each associated with change in purpose across the pandemic, there were age and gender differences in these effects.Theoretical and practical implications regarding the relationship between cognitive ability and sense of purpose in the context of stress will be discussed.

RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SENSE OF PURPOSE AND COGNITIVE CHANGE IN OLDER ADULTHOOD: A COORDINATED ANALYSIS
Gabrielle Pfund 1 , Bryan James 2 , Patrick Hill 3 , Jason Hassenstab 3 , Payton Rule 3 , and Emily Willroth 3 , 1. Northwestern University,Chicago,Illinois,United States,2. Rush University Medical Center,Chicago,Illinois,United States,3. Washington University in St. Louis,St. Louis,Missouri,United States Sense of purpose (i.e., the extent to which one has personally meaningful goals and directions guiding them through life) is a consistent promoter of healthy aging for older adults.Unfortunately, while individuals benefit from having a high sense of purpose as they age, many people's sense of purpose declines during older adulthood.Some evidence suggests that these declines may in part be explained by health declines experienced later in life.With sense of purpose being a powerful predictor of cognitive functioning in older adulthood, the current project evaluates whether this relationship may be more reciprocal in nature.Using a coordinated data analytic approach, this work investigates how sense of purpose and cognitive functioning promote each other and change together as older adults age.Longitudinal data comes from the Health and Retirement Study (N=15,497; 4 waves over 12 years), Memory and Aging Project (N=1,700; up to 15 waves over 15 years), Minority Aging Research Study (N=950; up to 12 waves over 12 years), and Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (N=22,334; 3 waves over 18 years).Based on a series of random intercept cross-lagged panel models, initial results indicate that sense of purpose change precedes cognitive functioning change and vice versa, when accounting for betweenperson and concurrent within-person associations.Moreover, bivariate latent growth models show that longer-term change in sense of purpose co-occurs alongside changes in cognitive functioning.In this talk, we will discuss how promoting sense of purpose can support successful cognitive aging, and the repercussions of cognitive decline for sense of purpose.Purpose in life has been associated consistently with healthier cognitive aging outcomes, including better cognitive function and lower risk of incident dementia.Most within-person research on purpose and cognition has focused on cognition measured over years, which has been essential to identify the long-term protective benefits of purpose.The present research shrinks the timescale to momentary assessments over days to address whether purpose operates in the moment to support healthier cognitive function in everyday life.Participants from the Couples Healthy Aging Project (N=303) completed smartphone-based momentary assessments of purpose and short cognitive tasks three times a day for eight days.In moments when participants felt more purpose driven than their average, they had faster processing speed (b=-1.240,SE=0.194; p<.001) and less variability in processing speed (b=-0.437,SE=0.135; p<.001).These associations were independent of person, temporal, and contextual factors and practice effects.Momentary purpose was unrelated to visual memory performance.Similar patterns were found for other purpose-related items (momentary engagement, motivation) but not for hedonic emotions (momentary positive affect).These results suggest that feeling more purpose-driven in the moment supports faster processing speed in daily life.This work demonstrates that the positive association between purpose in life and better cognitive function operates in daily life and may be one mechanism through which purpose is associated with better long-term cognitive outcomes.

PREPARING TO MEET THE NEEDS OF OLDER ADULTS: WORKFORCE, TRAINING, AND EDUCATION ISSUES Chair: Grace Caskie
Due to projected growth in the older adult population in the United States, those working in healthcare and education will encounter increasing numbers of older adults.This population shift presents challenges and opportunities for individuals working in these settings to be ready to meet the needs of older adults.In this symposium, we highlight research on several issues critical to preparing the workforce in healthcare and education for older adults' specific needs.Poon's paper addresses geriatric behavioral health workforce needs identified by a survey of licensed behavioral health providers.Several barriers to providing care to older adults are identified by these providers.Rodriguez et al. investigated the clinical practice experiences and challenges from ten years' worth of alumni of the VA Geriatric Scholars program.This training program provides a model for improving clinical practice with older adults.Hollis-Sawyer examines older students' first experiences taking a course in an online teaching setting and provides specific suggestions to maximize their learning environment.Patterson et al. present an extensive scoping review of end-of-life training for medical students that identified several themes that can direct efforts to improve end-of-life care for older adults.Finally, Caskie et al. address health biases and age biases in doctoral psychology trainees' anticipated clinical work with depressed older adult clients of varying health statuses and provide guidance to psychology programs for improving training.This symposium aims to provide those working in healthcare and educational settings with ways to address workforce preparedness to meet the needs of older adults.

EFFECT OF OLDER ADULT HEALTH STATUS AND AGE ON TRAINEES' PERCEPTIONS OF CLINICAL WORK WITH OLDER ADULT CLIENTS Grace Caskie, Benjamin Johnson, and Eve Root, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States
The growing older adult population in the US will result in more psychologists providing services to older clients.Yet, most psychology doctoral programs lack specific training on mental healthcare for older adults, which allows ageism and healthism to remain unchallenged.To examine how age and health status affect trainees' clinical perceptions, we used a 2 age X 3 health repeated-measures experimental design.Doctoral trainees (N=219; age=21-58) in clinical and counseling psychology were randomly assigned to the 71-year-old or 81-year-old condition.Trainees then read three randomlyordered clinical vignettes depicting clients with depressive symptoms that varied health condition (healthy, recent Alzheimer's diagnosis, heart disease).Trainees provided clinical ratings for each client.Regardless of age, relative to the client with a recent Alzheimer's diagnosis, the healthy client was perceived as more likely to develop an effective therapeutic relationship, and both the healthy client and client with heart disease were considered more appropriate candidates for therapy.For the 71-year-old client, prognosis, competence, and comfort did not differ between the healthy client and the client with heart disease, but both were rated significantly better than the client with Alzheimer's.For the 81-year-old client, competence and comfort treating were significantly lower for the client with Alzheimer's as compared to both the client with heart disease and the healthy client, but trainees also expressed less comfort and competence treating the client with heart disease than the healthy According to the US Census, more than 16% of Nebraska's population is 65 and older.Many older Nebraskans reside in rural communities.Although clinicians in existing state-wide workforce surveys endorse working with older adults, it is unclear how frequently they are involved in geriatric mental health.To identify the needs of those who are providing mental health services to older Nebraskans, the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN) conducted an online survey of eligible licensed practitioners from August to December 2022.This presentation highlights the background characteristics of 193 respondents, nearly 40% of whom came from rural areas.Two-thirds identified either as licensed mental health therapists (38%), licensed clinical social workers (26%), or licensed psychologists (14%).More than a quarter did not provide direct clinical services to older adults.On average, respondents estimated devoting 18% of their time working with older adults.Respondents listed insurance restrictions, lower reimbursement rates, and limited specialized geriatric mental health training opportunities as major reasons that had kept them from serving older clients more frequently.These findings support BHECN's ongoing efforts to further develop training and support, and advocate for potential policy changes to enhance the state's geriatric behavioral and mental health workforce.

THE FOUR C'S OF TEACHING OLDER LEARNERS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE WORKPLACE AND CAREER WORK-LIFE EXTENSION EFFORTS Lisa Hollis-Sawyer, Northeastern Illinois University (Chicago), Chicago, Illinois, United States
From Spring 2017 through Spring 2022, a sample of older (age 40 and above) undergraduate and graduate students who were also first-time online students (n = 86) from a very diverse student population at Northeastern Illinois University were analyzed on various motivational and performance indices regarding fully online course performance (e.g., student expectations, receptivity to on-line modules, time management skills).A comparative analysis of the two student samples yielded some interesting "universal" course design issues across education levels, as well as by cultural background and gender differences.Specific fully online design issues to be discussed as are how to create the clearest "face-to-face" representation of the classroom experience via a course learning management system.Effective design issues will be discussed in creating a supportive, fully online course environment for older online course students.General design issues to be discussed are how to create a well-structured "face-to-face" representation of the classroom experience for a diverse older student population with equally diverse learning needs/issues, a supportive fully online learning environment for "first-time" online course students, and tailored, client.Doctoral psychology programs should include training addressing trainees' clinical knowledge and biases to ensure competent care for older adults.Abstract citation ID: igad104.1031OVERVIEW OF THE NEBRASKA GERIATRIC BEHAVIORAL HEALTH WORKFORCE SURVEY Cecilia Poon, Nebraska Medicine/ UNMC, Omaha, Nebraska, United States Martina Luchetti 2 , Alyssa Gamaldo 3 , Jacqueline Mogle 3 , Hephzibah Lovett 1 , Justin Brown 1 , Martin Sliwinski 4 , and Antonio Terracciano 5 , 1.Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, Florida, United States, 2. Florida State University, College of Medicine, Tallahassee, Florida, United States, 3. Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, United States, 4.